Thursday, 30 March 2017

I must apologise for my unavoidable absence;
accordingly I have submitted this written report with regard to matters
surrounding the TBA site and my concerns. Clearly there are a number of
issues that should be in the public domain.
Afterall it is us who are most affected by the problems of this highly contaminated site.

This is the question I put to Rochdale Township regarding the TBA site. 'Has the site survey on contamination been completed? Are there any
preliminary results and will these be shared with RMBC councillors and
council officers? Will these be shared with the Save Spodden Valley
group? What action do the owners intend to take to remove the illegally
dumped rubbish on their site? What progress has been made in terms of
prosecution by the Environment Agency? What action has the council taken
to address the public health threat posed by this rubbish to the
residents of Rochdale?'
I recieved the following replies.
First,
the survey has been completed this month. Originally we were told it
would be completed in 3 weeks in October. However it took 4 to 5 months.
Why?

Secondly, I asked if preliminary results would be
shared with councillors, council officers or experts from Save Spodden
Valley? The response was that the report would eventually be published
at a later date. Presumably the answer to my question was 'no'.

Thirdly
I asked about all the rubbish that had been dumped on the site by the
lorry load. No information was forthcoming about a prosecution by the
Environment Agency, the response being that this was in the hands of the
Environment Agency.
No comment was made with regard to the council's duty to protect public health.

I
prefaced my question by saying that in the light of the council's wish
to see 250 houses on site (Stragetic Housing Land Availability
Assessment 2016) the problems of the site should be dealt with in a
transparent and open way.
In addition I offered to take
councillors and council officers round the site to show them my
concerns. This was met with a stoney silence from the councillors.
Clearly not interested.

Subsequently Cllr Biant has ascerted that the rubbish is 'mainly inert'.
What
does she mean by 'inert' – not dangerous, not disease ridden, not
contaminated? What tests have been done? As this is private land what
tests have the site owners undertaken, or have the council undertaken
tests on behalf of the owners? Can we have access to the results of
these tests?
And most alarmingly, MAINLY inert. I really do not
think that mainly is good enough. Just a few germs, a little bit of
asbestos? Not good enough.

It seems that the phrase 'mainly inert' is more appropriately applied to councillors, not the rubbish on site.

It seems that construction giant, Carillion, have dropped a huge clanger when they demolished the old 'Tameside Administration Centre' (TAC) in the centre of Ashton-under-Lyne.

We understand that when the old TAC building was being demolished, a joist, that was integral to both the structural stability of the TAC building and Ashton Town Hall, was removed leaving the old town hall structurally unstable and in a hazardous state.

A source within Tameside Council (TMBC), has told Northern Voices that it will cost around £5m to put things right and to make Ashton Town Hall structurally safe. We understand that Tameside Council are claiming that they are covered by Carillion's liability insurance. In the meantime, Ashton Town Hall is unusable.

Last May, Carillion, came under fire when Russell Scott Primary in Denton, had to close when "significant defects" were found which did not comply with fire regulations. Head teacher, Steve Marsden, said: "An assessment had ruled that the safety of pupils and staff was 'compromised'."

TMBC and contractors Carillion plc, denied this, and said the school had: "the necessary fire, building control, and other certificates required by law and is insured to operate."

FROM 9am this morning until lunch-time, the Rochdale Unite Community Branch set up a stall across the road from Rochdale Jobcentre, and issued leaflets protesting against unfair benefit cuts.
Besides members of the local branch the secretary of the Greater Manchester County Association and another colleague were in evidence, and a delegate from Tameside Trade Union Council came over to offer support.
While I was there several claimants endorsed the campaign and were advised by the activists on the stall.

This was a national day of action against unfair benefit cuts, and Unite the Union issued the statement below:

Stop benefit sanctions

Thursday 30 March 2017 National Day of Action Against Sanctions JOIN US

More and more people are facing benefit sanctions. 300,000 people have had their benefits suddenly stopped by sanctions in the last 12 months.

Many of whom have been plunged into poverty, unable to heat their homes or even eat. How is this meant to help prepare people for work?

Benefit sanctions must be fought against

These sanctions are cruel and handed out for ridiculous reasons such as:

Arriving minutes late to a meeting

Not applying for jobs when waiting to start a new job!

Missing an appointment on the day of the funeral of a close family member.

I READ with
total incredulity that Council Tax payers in Rochdale will from 1 April be
paying more on our Council Tax bills than people in Manchester.

This news
stunned even those friends & neighbours of mine temperedon the hammer & anvil of local council
stupidity by serialantics from Rochdale
Council over the years.

After all only
last year Manchester was voted the best place to live in the UK beating even
London which was ranked ten places lower. Rochdale as we know was not.

The Global
Liveability Survey compiled by the Economist Intelligence Unit scored 140
cities worldwide out of 100 in the areas of health care, education, stability,
culture and environment and infrastructure. Manchester scored88.8 out of a 100 and was ranked the 43rd
best city in the world to live in.

I am not sure
where exactly Rochdale ranked in 'the 140 best cities to live in worldwide' but
it must with some certainty have been much higher than Manchester to warrant
this years 4.99% increase in Rochdale's Council Tax? Anything less would be
Daylight Robbery .

I just wonder
what Rochdale folk , (who pay more in all Council Tax Bands A - Hthan Manchester residents), get for our money from Rochdale Councilthat people in Manchester, (who pay less in
all Council Tax Bands A - Hthan we), do not get for their money from Manchester City Council?

I can only
assume that word must have spread that we have a dedicated, specialist SAS
standard trained cohort of 'Alpha-Councillors' invested here in the very heart
of our community who have selflessly put Rochdale firmly on the local
government map. So proactive have past councils been that their list of
triumphs is both exhaustive & colourful .

A toxic asbestos
site - once the worlds largest asbestos factory - has been allowed to crumble
into lethal ruin with no regard for the long term safetyof the towns residents for decades' Surely
merits the considerable extra money we all pay as tax payers just on it's own?

Councillors who
switch party without any due regard to political principle or the voters.
Party's that rise & sink without tangible trace except for the extra
expenses claimed as a separate political entityin the Council - incidentally does anyone know what happened to the much
heralded but quickly demised Rochdale First from 2014 they showed some initial
promise ? Personally I think that for entertainment value alone this episode of
local government shenanigans was worth an entire 1 % increase of itself ?

We have seen a
£250 Million regeneration programme that has prioritised a £50 Million 'Norman
Keep' - AKA ' No.1 Riverside '- ( almost flooded before the ink on the hastily
signed insurance policy for the buildingwas signed !),above scandalous
levels of poor housing, lack of opportunity, local child poverty, and
generational social exclusion, employment & skills gap. Long promised
retail developments few locals will be able afford to shop have taken
precedence over community cohesion by Councillors that have all but ignored
near 1930's levels of poverty & shoddy , damp rented housing, unfit in some
cases for human habitation , the ingrained and widely denied second & third
generation unemployment in some wards.

It's not just
the shocking recent history though is it that calls into question the probity
and transparency of local politics in this town. All the kids on the Working
class state I grew up on knew from an early age not to take sweets from a
certain local politician in the 1970's so how our local adult councillors at
the time remained unaware of the rumours remains beyond most rational people. Especially when we had the benefit then of Rochdale Alternative Press to keep
us informed about 'Fat Man's' activities. From that edition onwardsit was clear that there was something rotten
to the very core of local Rochdale politics and that a culture of historic
denial or best just sweep it under the carpet - like the asbestos at Healy Dell
- where hopefully it'll all just be forgotten about in time?

Its not just the
skeletons still rattling in theircloset
fromthe 1970's that need concern us
still - nearly half a century later - true to local form we still see new
closets being crammed full by a political class at several steps removed from
the majority oflocal Rochdale folk yet
again. he attempt to criminalise the homeless, beggars and under 18-year-olds is
onlythe most recent example of other
notorious examples of the total and complete failure of local authorities to
protect those they had a clear & obvious duty of care for. This is an
example of a mind set and dysfunctional internal narrative that posits that we
- the Council - are beyond reproach , forever above accountability
,investigation and always without blame. In fact it is the victims of our
successive failures of governance & policies who are at fault never us.

It's precisely
this kind of insidious non-thinking culture that allows some of our more
delusional or remote local decision makers still think they are once again
unaccountable & above independent public scrutiny and natural justice.

The much
heralded Kingsway Business Park was allowed to house a company so notorious for
shoddy employment standards & practices that the DWP no longer allows
adverts for the company to be carried on the Universal Jobs match site. Despite
their near Victorian abuse of worker rights we have a nominally Labour Council
recently reward this companies attacks on local working peoples employment
rights by allow this Dickensian throwback to: 'extendtheir European headquarters at Kingsway
Business Park by 600,000 square feet to a total floor space of 2m square feet.'

It's clear that
: '£100,000 in planning fee income' buys a lot of acquiescencefrom our 'Alpha-Councillors ' who silence
merely masks their complicity and tacit collaboration in the systematic abuse
of local workers statutory rights exposed so graphically in last years C4
undercover report that should have come as no surprise since as long ago as
2013 concerns had been raised publicly about this new millennium workhouse.

This single
handed attempt to undermine workers rights would also possibly warrant the
34%/51% expenses increase for Councillors - especially one would have though
those councillors who are trade union members. It's just this kind of co-worker
solidarity we have grown accustomed to from our 'Alpha-Councillors '. Long may
our brothers & sisters in the Town Hall continue to stand with us in
thestruggle - lets make the 'birthplace
of cooperation' proud shall we comrades?

We best not
forget from our list the disgraceful levels of Department of Work Pensions (DWP) sanctions have been imposed
on vulnerable local claimants for weeks on end without so much as a whimper of
protest from local Red Tory Councillors who continue feed their faces on £9.95
a head tax payer subsidised buffets whist simultaneously imposing a further £39
MILLION of Blue Tory austerity on local public services. Indeed these quislings
and complicit facilitators of central government cuts to northern communities
& front-line services remain resolutelyin denial about local malnutrition rates, spiralling debt and food bank
voucher use across the Townships.

We have seen
also a disgraceful attempt to ride rough-shod over the human rights of people
with learning disabilities & their desperately worried families & support
workers by a shambolic, barley competentconsultation processona proposed re-modelling of Adult Social Care
that looked as if it had been compiled on the back of a fag packet. We have
seen the Council widely ridiculed for its crass 'swearing ban ' across the
media from Russia Today to the Telegraph for its ill conceived Public Space
Protection Order that is so we are told hoped to be extended to schools gates.
Though quite who will pay for this is still open to debate since when the
Council proposed schools pay for their own school Crossing patrols in December
2016 they were told that: '30 out of 63 schools were not prepared fund
crossing patrols'. As with the Adult Social Care remodelling proposals after a
public outcry this nonsense was also rather hastily quashed.

As to proposals
to store hazardous waste near a residential area in Castleton one can't help
but wondering whether our 'Alpha-Councillors' are engaged in some kind of
subtle social engineering experiment to ascertain how many toxic or hazardous
industrial sites can be crammed into a five mile square inhabited area without
producing genetic mutations among the local population - not too many more we
suspect !

Once the news
that Rochdale is a 'Social Utopia' governed by an elite of 'Alpha
-Councillors'extolling True Labour
values & principles to the down trodden, huddled masses and their fame
spreads far and wide across Greater Manchester we should expect an imminent
exodus of aspirationalMancunians
re-locating to Rochdale? Thousands of fleeing 'Economic & cultural migrants
' fellow workers & citizens eager to avail themselves immediately of
Rochdale Councils superbly run public services , our fabulous public facilities
, our renowned global cultural identity and international status that we will
now all be able to expect as a right in return for our increased council tax
bills?

As the great
Dario Fo once said of comedy & the essential satire of politicians:

BY way of reply to yesterday's piece Beggars Opera or Comic Opera? - Strangling Civil Liberties on a United Front, I'd like to raise a few points.

I don't doubt for a second that the
nauseating culture of palpable nepotism and political cronyism was once
again alive and flourishing at Rochdale Town Hall :It was like
viewing a tribe of back-patting gangsters as both the Tory and Labour
politicians vied with each other to heap on the praise ' writes the
articles author. I can almost picture it now. All we are really lacking
is a corrupt City Mayor, a few more henchmen in double breasted suits
with Fedora hats carrying violin cases ,a couple of high profile payola
busts with a snazzy Bix Beiderbecke soundtrack piped into the council
chamber. Retro Gangsterism - its the new rock'n'roll !

Or maybe a more toned down theme more akin perhaps to a scene from Brecht's famous play The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui (1)
portraying as it does the rise of a fictional 1930s Chicago mobster -
Arturo Ui - and his attempts to control the cauliflower racket by
ruthlessly disposing of the opposition to become chief vegetable
gangster. The parallels are sometimes striking .We really should have a
copy in the Library at The Ministry of Truth as No1. Riverside is to be
shortly renamed.

Whichever is closer to the truth
our town hall has of late become an almost absurdist theatrical
experience where some of the performances would not be out of place
delivered in Al Capone pin stripe suits accompanied by gangsters molls
with a mobsters getaway car revving up round the Town Hall - just in
case anyone has to do a quick runner!

In this fevered political atmosphere its perhaps not surprising that bashful Councillor Blundell did not intervene to challenge Councillor
Sullivan and Councillor Howards motion to extend Public Space
Protection Orders to the gates of local schools. Those well known haven
for anti-social & criminal elements across the Borough ! Makes no
difference , as Woody Guthrie said : ' Some will rob you with a six-gun, And some with a fountain pen'.

After all it was only at the beginning of the
month that Councillor Blundell was loudly proclaiming across the
air-waves of Key 101 radio station News on 8 March that unless you were an 'aggressive beggar'
you had ' absolutely nothing to fear from PSPO's. The Council 'is not
the Gestapo' the Councillor responded slightly nervously . Quite right
Councillor and we are here to ensure it never becomes anything close to
resembling it. Even if some members of our council would rather forget
it those opposed to PSPO's maintain that : 'the price of Liberty is
eternal vigilance.'

When it was pointed out that the proposal document for Rochdale Council does not use the word aggressive beggar but only beggar in the text I was accused of 'splitting hairs'and promoting 'fake news' .I'll leave it to Councillor Blundel to justify to the Public precisely how a PSPO initially proposed for use against aggressive beggars
in the town centre ( in the councillors own words) has transformed
itself less than four weeks down the road into a one size fits all
quick fix for a multitude of issues the Council have failed utterly to
get to grips with?

At this rate by Palm Sunday we can no doubt
look forward to the reintroduction of Prohibition, unlicensed
Speakeasy's on The Butts, local Protection Rackets & wholesale
counterfeiting & gangsters across the entire Borough. Ah, the joys
and pitfalls of turbo charged capitalism combined with a soon to be
almost unregulated neoliberal global economy.

Just for the record PSPO's outside schools can
in a matter of hours after a chat with a senior Police Officer be
transformed by a single council official into a ban on parents holding a
'Save Our School Rally' at the school gates in opposition to future
closure plans . Don't say you haven't been warned folks.

@libertyhq 's press release on the Rochdale PSPO is not factual, scare mongering and is completely alien to what the council wants to do

( 24 March 2016 )

Or the equally strident if slightly pompous :

Elected local representatives are making this decision. @libertyhq load of London liberal elites looking down their nose at northern towns

( again on 24 March 2016)

Segments of this Twitter feed
appear to not only fly in the face of reality but seems to fly directly
in the face of Council claims the PSPO proposal was being put out for
consultation and not be a decision made by 'elected local representatives'
for a start - not to mention fly Icarus style into the truth of the
Sun. They are indicative of the kind of juvenile responses some of our
local councillors resort to when caught bang to rights with their
trousers down by people outside the Rochdale 'bubble', who not only
quite obviously know what they are talking about , but are able to run
circles round our local 'Alpha-Councillors' with those awfully annoying facts and the even more despised evidence
which even our local Rochdale decision makers have to reluctantly
number crunch from time to time. People who have an in depth
understanding of the Law & the Legal System are often problematic
for Rochdale Council .Just refer back to the embarrassing public
thrashing our council got in the national media from those with a
crystal clear understanding of the Health & Social Care
Sector. Liberty after all have only been advocating on British Law since
1934 so I'm sure we'd all defer to Councillor Blundel's greater breadth
of legal working knowledge & experience on the complex intricacies
of PSPO's than actual British Lawyers, (2).

It would be illuminating to know precisely which part of Liberty's PRESS RELEASE is not factual, scaremongering so we can all reset our thought processes from 'thought crime' to acceptable Council approved cognitive dissonance immediately ?

Perhaps Councillor Blundell can clarify for us
lowly proles how we should think sometime soon . So none of us get
ideas above our station or get into the annoyingly bad habit of asking
tricky questions of our betters?

(1). The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui or That Well-Known Racket .The
scenario that Brecht presents is recognisably possible at other times,
past, present and future. He points to a time of recession: people are
suffering increasing hardship in deteriorating circumstances. Crime is
on the increase, unemployment soars, street violence erupts. An enemy is
at work, the people are told; a scapegoat is sought and hounded, while
the well-off, anxious to preserve their position, join in the hunt or
merely look the other way.Under similar circumstances Chicago
produced Al Capone, and Germany produced Hitler, who rose to power on
the backs of the wealthy establishment, which thought it could both
control and use him, but which was blinkered by its fear of the "enemy
within"

(2). Liberty is also known as the National
Council for Civil Liberties. Founded in 1934, they are a cross party,
non-party membership organisation at the heart of the movement for
fundamental rights and freedoms in the UK.

They promote the values of individual human dignity, equal treatment and fairness as the foundations of a democratic society.Liberty is entirely independent. They're not affiliated with any
political party and they receive no Government funding – which
means they're free to fearlessly and robustly criticise Government
policy and truly hold the powerful to account. They promote the values
of equality, dignity, fairness and accountability in all that they do.

Wednesday, 29 March 2017

Tonight, at Rochdale Town Hall's Full Council meeting of the Rochdale Town Council, it was more like watching a stage show of Bertold Brecht's 'Threpenny Opera'than serious politics. It was like viewing a tribe of back-patting gangsters as both the Tory and Labour politicians vied with each other to heap on the praise. Talk about cosy council politics!

Councillor Liam O'Rourke even pontificated on how often the local Tories would join up with the governing Labour lads and lassies to proclaim and pass proposals and present a united front, no matter the perverse political origins of the proposals. At one stage we were left wondering if the bashful Councillor Blundell was having an affair with one of the Tory lassies, so intimate was their demeanour.

There is much of the tragi-comedy about politics in Rochdale these days, which even in its own petty way rivals Brexit and Trump on the stage of national and international politics.

A major asbestos scandal has dogged the town for decades, the site of the former asbestos factory is now fast becoming a dump for waste which is being fly-tipped on an industrial scale; buildings surrounding the town centre neglected for decades are now cracking and disintegrating to such an extent that recently the trams to the town centre had to be stopped and buses diverted; travelling people now threaten Cronkeyshaw Common; market traders disappointed with the poorness of their trade in groceries have formed a co-op and are threatening to leave the town and now the Greater Manchester Spatial Strategy threatening the Green Belt around Rochdale.

But recently, it has been the proposals for issuing Public Space Protection Orders with on-the-spot penalties that has been causing consternation. And this seems to be where the Tories and labour parties are uniting most. Tonight, Councillor Sullivan and Councillor Howard moved and seconded a motion for extending the imposition of Protection Orders to the proximity of schools. The motion stated:'This Council welcomes the future consultation on potential use of Public Space Protection Orders in the Town Centre and recommends the introduction of similar Orders to enhance road safety outside schools. As a Council we are committed to protecting the safety and welfare of the Borough's children, which is often put at risk by irresponsible parking outside schools. The Council calls upon the Cabinet to develop proposals to trail Public Space Protection Orders around schools with known parking problems to tackle the associated risk to children, parents and carers; and following a period of monitoring to establish the success of this intuitive, the Council should explore options to roll out a programme of Protection Orders around schools.'
What this means is that extra unnecessary laws will be brought in by the law-makers of Rochdale to duplicate laws that already exists. Natural justice, it seems, will now be binned in Rochdale!
What began with a Labour Party campaign to clean-up Rochdale Town Centre of beggars and other 'wrong-uns' , is now moving relentlessly on to a campaign against improper parking around school yards. To get support for the motion one councilor last night even invoked images of car-keys being snatched by an angry schoolmaster trying to restore order and cat-fights by parents outside the school gate over parking spaces as mothers hung up their handbags to freely sally-forth in a fiery frenzy claiming the right of place to a space nearest to the school gates.
Bring on the 'On-the-Spot' Fines for Rochdale's disabled beggars and down and outs!
Let's have more 'Public Space Protection Orders' against irate parents who park badly!
The good Councillor Jane Howard, the Shadow Portfolio Holder for Adult Care and seconder of the motion relating to good order at School Gates, even whinged last night about not just swearing, but about one councilor actually 'blaspheming in this Council Chamber' she said, as had happened at the last full council meeting.
With such examples of innate wickedness, the good councilors of the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale couldn't vote the motion through quick enough! The band-wagon to corral the public is underway! Bring on the Zoo-Keepers!

* The Beggar's Opera is the story
satirised politics, poverty and injustice, focusing on the theme of
corruption at all levels of society. Lavinia Fenton,
the first Polly Peachum, became an overnight success. Her pictures were
in great demand, verses were written to her and books published about
her.. Elisabeth Hauptmann (with Bertolt Brecht) and Kurt Weill adapted the opera into Die Dreigroschenoper (The Threepenny Opera) in 1928, sticking closely to the original plot and characters but with a new libretto and mostly new music.

Workplace activist, Ian Allinson, who is standing as a "grassroots socialist" candidate for the position of General Secretary, of the trade union, Unite, was interviewed yesterday by Jo Coburn, on the BBC2 'Daily Politics' show. Both Gerard Coyne and Len McCluskey, who are also standing in this election, declined to appear.

Allinson, is the only candidate in this election who is not a full-time paid trade union official. An employee of the global tech firm Fujitsu, in Manchester, and a trade union convenor, he is the underdog in this election having fewer branch nominations than the other two candidates. If elected, as General Secretary of Unite, Allinson has vowed to forgo the six figure salary that goes with the job and to work for his current pay. He also wants to see all Unite officials elected, rather than appointed.Questioned by Coburn about being the favoured candidate of the 'Socialist Workers Party' (SWP), Allison said that he had a broad range of support within Unite. Nevertheless, Allinson's political background is within the SWP.

During the run up to the election, there has been a certain amount of mudslinging between two of the candidates. Gerard Coyne, the West Midlands, Regional Secretary of Unite, accused McCluskey of taking a loan off the Union to buy a property in London and he claims that McCluskey, is more interested in Jeremy Corbyn, and the Labour Party, rather than Unite members. His brother, Kevin Coyne, is also a national officer of Unite. Coyne, is seen as the candidate of the Labour right and the one candidate who is most acceptable to New Labour and the bosses. He was recently given column inches in Rupert Murdoch's "Sun" newspaper, to present his election address, entitled - "I'll get your union back." He says in his election address to Unite members - "Just last year, Unite put £417,000 of your money into a luxury London apartment for his (McCluskey's) personal use."Writing for the Murdoch press, is hardly likely to endear Coyne to many British trade unionists, given the way in which, the Murdoch press have vilified trade unionists over the years. Rupert Murdoch also backed Donald Trump in the U.S. Presidential elections and News International, was also embroiled in the phone-hacking scandal. Unite have stated that the loan made to McCluskey was a -"shared equity arrangement made with officials required to move to London with the property being sold after the official left the post." However, prior financial assistance of £90,000 was given to McCluskey in 1994, to buy a house with his then partner, Jennie Formby. In 2013, Formby was appointed Unite's political director on a salary of £75,000.Len McCluskey, has been General Secretary of Unite since 2011 and until his resignation, in December 2016. In his election address, McCluskey says - "I'm overwhelmed that nearly 1200 branches - more than 80% of the total - have nominated me... I regret that this election has been marred by so many smears and lies by Mr Coyne, aided by the right-wing anti-union media, designed to undermine your union to further his own ambitions..."Yesterday, on 'Daily Politics', Allinson said that he felt that Unite had not put up enough fight against government austerity policies and the recent Trade Union Bill. Like many Trotskyists, he believes that English workers are always itching for a fight but are being restrained and held back by the likes of trade union leaders, like McCluskey. He said that he was in favour of the free movement of labour across countries and opposed Trident. He feels that the money could be used to create sustainable jobs and to build more council housing. Asked about the allegation that McCluskey, was intending to affiliate Unite to 'Momentum', which supports Jeremy Corbyn, he said this was utter nonsense as only a Unite conference or the NEC, could make that decision.Len McCluskey recently stated that Jeremy Corbyn should be given 15 months to see if he could improve Labour's opinion poll ratings. If not, he feels he should be replaced by another leader. Allinson, supports Corbyn unequivocally, in spite of his shambolic performance as leader of the opposition. Although Labour held Stoke in a recent by-election, with a reduced majority, it also lost the safe Labour seat of Copeland, which went Conservative. At the Richmond by-election held in December 2016, Labour lost its deposit and got fewer votes in the constituency than there were Labour Party members. Jeremy Corbyn, leads a party that was pro-Remain and pro-EU, yet he's been a life-long opponent of Britain's membership of the European Union. After the vote for Brexit last summer, he stupidly called for Article 50 to be invoked immediately. John McDonnell, also claimed that Britain leaving the EU was nothing less than an "enormous opportunity." In February, having seen all their amendments defeated, Corbyn led his Labour MPs into the House to vote alongside the government for its Brexit bill. However, some Labour MPs, opposed the three line whip and voted against it.It was reported that immediately after Labour voted for the Brexit bill, some 7,000 Labour members stopped their standing orders and packed it in. Caroline Lucas of the Green Party, said that the un-amended bill was the "blueprint for an extreme Tory Brexit and Labour waved it through."

Already there is speculation as to whom might be the next Labour leader. Keir Starmer, Clive Lewis, and Rebecca Long-Bailey, have all been tipped as future Labour leaders.

Ballot papers for the 2017 election of Unite General Secretary were sent out on Monday 27th March.

WRITERS on the left in Rochdale have been anxious to infer right-wing tendencies in the proposal of the Labour Council to inflict on-the-spot penalties upon the beggars in Rochdale town centre. Were as, for my part I see Richdard farnell and even Simon Danczuk in the great tradition of Fabian state socialism.

Some leftist critics of Rochdale council have summoned up references to the German laws of the 1930s, and people like the pacifist Phillip Gilligan was driven to write in the Rochdale Observer (March 18th, 2017):'....after coming to power in Germany, the Nazis sought to exclude many groups from their so-called "national community", including those who they labelled "asocials". There measures became steadily more oppressive and, in just one week in 1937, 11,000 beggars and homeless people were arrested and sent to Buchenwald concentration camp. They were never seen again.'

Before Hitler and the Nazis established any kind of clean-up campaign against anti-social elements it was the Fabian state socialist Bernard Shaw who who as early as 1931 was filmed delivering a 'Paramount Sound News Exclusive' which caused outrage at the time. J. Kelly Nestuck writes describing this encounter vividly:'In the black and white footage, Shaw, with his Irish lilt and smug grin, seems to argue in favour making everybody "come before a properly appointed board, just as he might come before the income tax commissions," to justify their existence..

'If you're not producing as much as you consume, or perhaps a little more," he suggests, "then clearly we cannot use the big organisation of our society for the purpose of keeping you alive, because your life does not benefit us and it can't be of very much use to yourself.'

How very practical and rational these old fashioned state socilalists like Shaw were, and somewhere I seem to remember that Malcolm Muggeridge, who knew many of these Fabian socialists, would ponder the puzzle about whether if the great man Shaw and a lame beggar were in a boat and one should have been sacificed which one should go overboard; Muggeridge took the view, as I recall, that humankind would benefit far more 'if it was Shaw who took a header into the depths'.

Most anarchists and decent people would have no hesitation in making a similar choice if Simon Danczuk and/ or Richard Farnell were poised aboard a craft in difficulties with a pair of limbless beggars.

Many thanks to Val at Townships & Communities for her efficiency and thoroughness in dealing with my enquiry.

Her letter states:“In 2016 / 17 we have created 12 new allotment plots at a derelict horse grazing site on Kellet Street.In 2013 [this site was] derelict and dangerous structures plus fly tipping of tyres, fridges, a boat etc.All this has been cleared, the perimeter secured with fencing / gate
repairs and new installation, small car parking area to prevent parking
issues on already congested streets around the site,

Japanese Knotweed treated, path network created and new allotment
society set up to run the site. The work to get the next 20 plots on
this site ready for allocating is nearing completion and these should be
ready for allocation from mid-April.

Work is also ongoing with our Estates Department to identify other
sites and as a result of that process multiple sites are now being
tested for suitability (checking access, if the soil is contaminated
etc) prior to organising works to bring these other sites into operation
as allotments during 2017 and 2018.”

Hence, by the end of next month 32 of the promised 100 allotment plots will have been created.
I had stated in a previous letter that my hunch was that the actual
figure would be zero and it is reassuring to know that some work is
being done. However, as things stand, just 12% of the stated target has
been reached so I do not feel that my cynicism is entirely unwarranted.

Finally, I’d like to wish good luck to the people now tending those new
allotments and to the people waiting for a plot of their own.

Growing one’s own food is a beautiful way to foster a relationship
with nature, and with issues such as the exponential use of foodbanks
these are vital skills that we all need to share with each other.

GREEN Party activist, Daniel Clayton in a letter in this Wednesday's Rochdale Observer challenges the process and working of last Wednesday's Rochdale Township Committee. Mr. Clayton, who was present at the Township Committee to hear a response to his query which we set out below:'It was reported on 14 March 2016 that the Labour Group wanted to adopt a policy promoted by the local Green Party to create additional allotments in Rochdale. How many allotments have been created over the 12 months since then?'
The Chair described Clayton's question as 'too politically motivated'.
How extraordinary!
The Chair told Mr. Clayton, that his question was tardy and hence, as Private Eye might say 'Reply came there none!', but he then promised that a written response would be forthcoming.
It now seems that in truth the question from the Green Mr. Clayton had been in fact been received in good time but that it had been forwarded to the Environment Dept., and seeming lost in the Council machine.
The Chairman was much kinder to one of his council colleagues, Allen Brett who got pride of place with the questioning allowing him to use the Township as a platform to ask his own question about when the Metro tram would be able access the town centre again after the recent upset caused owing to the long-neglected buildings on Drake Street? Councillor Brett, it seems, is anxious to prove his worth since he moved to represent a ward nearer the town centre.

Monday, 27 March 2017

LAST
Monday the latest meeting of the Friends of Freedom Press (the
directors) ought to have been held at the building in Angel Alley
just off Whitechappel High Street in London. Alas, when Ernest Rodker, a director and Friend, arrived
in time for the meeting he found the building closed and shop shut
up.

The
meeting had been called-off at very short notice. Fortunately, more
by luck than good management, no directors or ‘Friend’ from the
North was already on the train bound for the South at the moment when
the event was called-off at the last minute.

There
is a certain slap-stick nature to the going-on at the premises of
Freedom Press which matches most of the prejudices of the enemies of
political anarchism.

Donald
Rooum, who retired or resigned as a Friend of Freedom Press earlier
this year, did so it is said because of certain over-wrought
behaviour at some gathering over a year ago at which at least one
Friend declared himself to be scared-stiff.

Absurdity
seems to follow the English anarchists in the dealings with everyday
affairs.:

In a
book review of Malcolm Muggeridge’s book ‘Chronicles Of
Wasted Time’, which Scott Alexander did in 2015, he
reported upon some hilarious goings on at the anarchist or Tolstoyan
Whiteway experimental colony originally founded in 1898, where the
former editor of Freedom Tom Keele went to live after he abandoned
the capital. Mr Alexander writes that:

‘The
land was cheap in those days. And they (the founders) acquired it by
purchase; then to demonstrate their abhorrence of the institution of
property. Ceremonially burnt the title deeds. It must have been a
touching scene – the bonfire, the documents consigned to the
flames, their exalted sentiments. Unfortunately, a neighbouring
farmer heard of their noble gesture and began to encroach on their
land. To have resorted to the police. Even if it had been
practicable, was unthinkable. So after much deliberation, they
decided to use physical force to expel the intruder… The invading
farmer was, in fact, thrown over the hedge in the presence of the
assembled Colonists. There were many such trag-comic incidents in
the years that followed; as well as quarrels, departures, jealousies,
betrayals, and domestic upset. In the end, the Colonists found it
necessary to re-establish their title to the land by means of
squatters’ rights, and then proceeded to bicker amongst themselves
as to who should have which portion.’

In
1909, Gandhi
visited the Whiteway Colony in 1909, and pronounced it a failed
Tolstoyan experiment. As to the fate of Freedom, which ceased serious publication in 2014, well the jury is still out on that one.

Sunday, 26 March 2017

'I feel compelled to comment. There is no doubt that Mr. Wainwright's
help in exposing this blacklisting scandal, was absolutely invaluable to
many building workers. This was because he was a 'blacklister' turned
'whistleblower' and had valuable inside information. However, when he
gave evidence to the Scottish Affairs Select Committee, he was asked at
what point he realised that there was something reprehensible or immoral
about blacklisting construction workers. 'Many people (including
those on the Scottish Affairs Select Ccommittee) felt that he did not act as he did, because his
conscious pricked him, but because he had been shit on by the company he
worked for when he raised the issue of alleged corrupt practices and
they took detrimental action against him. Some people feel that he
really blew the whistle because he was a disgruntled employee who wanted
to get back at the company that he worked for. 'There is nothing
surprising about this and people often do blow the whistle for similar
and not unrelated reasons, rather than acting in the public interest. 'Mr
Wainwright refers to his meeting with Ian Kerr. As I understand it,
Kerr said in his evidence to the SASC, that Mr. Wainwright had said that
Tarmac (the company he worked for, now Carillion) did not need his
services because they had their own information about construction
workers and could operate their own blacklist.'Understandably, Mr
Wainwright will now want to minimise his involvement in this scandalous
practice of blacklisting, and engage in ex-post facto rationalisations.
No doubt, Alan will be happy to expand on these matters and answer
questions about this, when he meets trades unionist to talk about his
role in the blacklisting of construction workers.'

Derek Pattison, the joint-editor of Northern Voices, wrote
the comment above earlier this month in response to an appeal from the
whistle-blower and former costruction industry boss, Alan Wainwright in a
legal case against Balfour Beatty. Derek, in his account below, was
clearly anxious to show that there is much that is complicated in the
affairs of men and women: the line between morality and expediency may
well be a fine one. It is now worth reminding ourselves by re-reading what the journalist Rob
Evans had to say in The Guardian on Friday the 15th, May 2009:

Alan Wainwright: The lonely life of a construction industry whistleblower

by Rob Evans Friday 15 May 2009 01.00 BST

How former manager exposed how workers were being secretly blacklisted.

ALAN WAINWRIGHT is a whistleblower who appears to have had a
significant hand in changing government policy. The one-time
construction manager used his inside knowledge to expose the clandestine
use by companies of blacklisting that has prevented trade unionists and
alleged "troublemakers" getting jobs.

By going public, he set off a chain of events which resulted, on
Monday, in an announcement from the business secretary, Lord Mandelson,
that the government was finally going to outlaw covert blacklists.
Mandelson had been forced to act after a watchdog closed down a private
investigator allegedly at the heart of blacklisting in the construction
industry. Wainwright played a key role in helping to unmask the
investigator, who is due to be prosecuted for breaking the data
protection act on 27 May. This week he is pleased, but keen to stress
that others, including trade unionists and politicians, deserve the
credit as well.
He has trodden the familiar path of a whistleblower – battling for a
long time in obscurity while being ignored by those in power: "It was
demoralising not to be believed." Like other whistleblowers, he suffered
for going public – losing his job, having no income, using up all his
savings to live, experiencing a lot of stress, and fearing he would be
evicted from his home: "It affects your relationship with your children,
who are the most important thing in my life."

Industrial strife

Wainwright, 45, grew up in Deeside, north Wales. He started off as an
electrician then ran a recruitment agency before being recruited by the
Tarmac construction firm.
His whistleblowing story starts in 1997 when he was the national
labour manager at an engineering company, Crown House (then a Tarmac
subsidiary). He had been told by a senior manager that construction
companies paid a private investigator, Ian Kerr, for information to
"ensure that certain workers did not gain employment on their projects".
He was told to meet Kerr because the vetting was being extended to
Crown House's labour force.

"He
[Kerr] definitely made it clear that they were undesirable people who
had a history of causing disruption to projects," Wainwright says.
He had two meetings with Kerr, who said that many construction firms
supplied him with details of workers on his database. As an example,
Wainwright was shown a list of more than 100 names. According to
Wainwright, Kerr said that when someone applied for a job, the company
would forward their name to him so he could check his database.
Wainwright said that if a worker was rejected, a simple "no" would come
back, with no other explanation.
Wainwright's department faxed a weekly list of names to Kerr; later
the lists went to Tarmac's head office: "It was very discreet, a closely
guarded secret. It was made clear to me that I was not to discuss it
with anybody, and I didn't." However, something was stirring in his
mind: "I knew deep down that there was something wrong with it."
Yesterday, Laing O'Rourke, which now owns Crown House, said that in
recent years it had bought companies which had paid Kerr, but this had
been stopped. In 2000, Wainwright briefly worked for the Drake and Scull
construction firm. He said his managers sent him a list of 500 workers,
with their national insurance numbers, which it had received from rival
construction firm Balfour Beatty. He said the listed workers had been
employed on three large construction projects that had seen a lot of
industrial strife, and that the list was distributed to managers to
ensure some workers were not employed. The memo, dated August 2000,
advised him to "keep this information confidential".
The Emcor construction company, which owns Drake and Scull, said it
was aware of the list described by Wainwright: "We have employed
individuals named on that list, at the time and subsequently. We do not
condone blacklists."
By 2004, Wainwright was a manager for Haden Young, a subsidiary of
Balfour Beatty. Within a year, he came across what he thought was fraud
by employees, but says his bosses were not interested in finding out the
truth – a claim they deny. "The management shunned me," he says. "It
got to the point where I felt very isolated, alone and alienated. It was
one of the most distressing periods of my life." He initiated a
grievance complaint against the company, but began to worry that he
himself would be branded a troublemaker.

In
a letter to his head office in July 2005, he wrote: "The company
operates a blacklisting procedure for new recruits and hired temporary
agency workers to check for any previous history of union militancy,
troublemaking."
Copies of Haden Young faxes from the time show lists of names being
faxed to head office so that, he believes, they could be vetted.
Yesterday Balfour Beatty said it did "not condone the use of
'blacklists' in any circumstances and has taken steps to ensure that
none of our companies use such services." In 2006, Wainwright quit Haden
Young but lost an employment tribunal claim. He was by then convinced
that he had been blacklisted as he had applied unsuccessfully for more
than 150 jobs. He believed he had to make a concerted effort to expose
the blacklisting if he were ever going to get work. He set up a website
and posted names of hundreds of workers he believed had been blacklisted
to alert them.

Unfair dismissal

He linked up with workers who thought they were being blacklisted,
shared his inside information with them and gave evidence for them in
industrial tribunals. Three workers won their case in 2007 for unfair
dismissal when a tribunal concluded that a "disgraceful" blacklist did
exist in the construction industry. A Guardian article on the cases last
June caught the attention of the Information Commissioner, Richard
Thomas, the official privacy watchdog. He investigated because he was
worried that workers were unfairly being denied jobs. As Wainwright had
met Kerr and still had documents concerning the alleged blacklisting, he
was able to help him. Investigators raided Haden Young premises and
tracked down the elusive Kerr to a nondescript office in Droitwich,
Worcestershire. In February, they raided Kerr's premises and seized a
secret database of 3,200 workers, effectively finishing the
66-year-old's business.
Thomas then named 40 construction firms including Balfour Beatty, Sir
Robert McAlpine, Laing O'Rourke, Emcor and Crown House, which he said
had been clandestinely using the database to vet potential workers.
According to Thomas, the firms bought details of the individuals' trade
union activities and work record from Kerr. Workers were said to be
labelled, for example, as "Communist party", "lazy and a
trouble-stirrer","Do not touch" and "Irish ex-army bad egg". Among the
entries was one on Wainwright recording how he had helped blacklisted
workers.
Now the jovial Wainwright is happily out of the construction industry and working for a concert ticket business.
He is animated about who are the ultimate culprits – the directors of
the construction companies. "Ian Kerr is not the primary cause of this.
The companies set him up in business, funded his existence from the
start, and each name on the list would have been provided by the
companies. The directors took the decisions to join the system."

He
is not ready to celebrate the end of blacklisting yet as he is waiting
to see if Mandelson manages to draw up a proper law to eradicate it. "I
am cautiously optimistic, however," he says.Alan Wainwright's new blog on the construction industry blacklist is now live

Andy Burnham, the Labour
mayoral candidate for Greater Manchester, recently launched his mayoral
manifesto. Amongst other things, he pledged to roll out free bus passes for 16
to 18-year-olds, who live in Greater Manchester.

According to a recent report by
the “Centre for Research on Socio-Cultural
Change” (CRESC), published in November 2016, Greater Manchester is a city
region marked by low wages and precarious work with an acute shortage of social
housing. Despite this, the report points out that fares for public transport are
high and most commuting is by car. The report says:

“Excluding
movements from Salford to Manchester, 60 to 70% of the commutes in to
Manchester City from the nine other boroughs are by car. Commuting to work
accounts for less than 20% of trips in Greater Manchester.”

Since the deregulation of buses
under the Conservative government of Margaret Thatcher in 1986, bus trips in
big cities outside of London, have collapsed from 2bn trips a year to 1bn.
Moreover, while fares have risen, services have worsened or have been cut
altogether. Around 40p in every pound of revenue that bus companies take, comes
directly as a subsidy from the taxpayer.

By contrast, bus use in London
since the 1980s, has gone in the opposite direction, from 1bn to 2bn trips a
year. Under ‘Transport for London’
(TfL), everything from the fares, the bus route, the timetable, and the profits
that the bus company makes, are decided by the Mayor and TfL. Under the “Oyster Card” fare system, which
everyone must use, Transport for London have introduced a standard single fare for
journeys which allows passengers to pay one single fare if they change service
within one hour. Free travel on bus, tube or tram, is available if you live in a
London borough and are over 60-years of age.

However, if you live in within
Greater Manchester, you are no longer entitled to a free bus pass when you
reach 60-years of age. This change came about in 2010, when the qualifying age
for a free bus pass, was moved incrementally, each year, towards pensionable
age.

As a 62-year-old man who lives
in Labour controlled Greater Manchester, I must pay full bus fares until I
qualify for a free bus pass (if there are still free bus passes) in September
2020, when I will be almost 66-years of age, possibly riddled with arthritis,
and with a long white beard, and a walking stick. Like many people, the high cost
of travelling on public transport in Greater Manchester, means that I rarely
use it nowadays.

While I don’t begrudge giving a
healthy 16 to 18-year-old a free bus pass, it seems outrageous to me, that
because I don’t live in Greater London, I cannot get a free bus pass as a man
in my sixties, but would be entitled to it, if I lived in Scotland, Wales or
Northern Ireland.

Although I accept that many
people who live in Greater Manchester may be totally unaware that they no
longer qualify for a free bus passes at 60, the government must marvel at the
way in which they get away with this in England - cutting people’s benefits while
at the same time, cutting taxes for the multinationals and the rich. No doubt, they must wonder why, the people of
Greater Manchester and the other areas of England, put up with such blatant
discrimination in transport policy within the regions of the UK. No wonder, some politicians get awarded
lucrative part-time jobs in the city.

Saturday, 25 March 2017

The bitter row between Len
McCluskey and Gerard Coyne, his main rival for the leadership of
the Unite union, continued on Friday (24 March). Coyne told
International Business Times UK that McCluskey has spent "far too much time"
focusing on Westminster politics and suggested the current general
secretary is Jeremy
Corbyn's"puppet master"."People really do believe it's time for a change and a sense
that under Len's leadership we've spent far too much time focusing on
Westminster politics and not enough time on supporting our members
and protecting them through difficult times," he said."I'm actually saying that the relationship with the Labour
Party is likely to be very different under my leadership. Not in that
we don't affiliate – that's within our rules – but the focus on
the leadership of the Labour Party and effectively being a
puppetmaster to the leader of Labour Party that will definitely end
under me."There's a big enough day-job here in being the Unite general
secretary then trying to be the general secretary of the Labour Party
at the same time. I think you'll see a very different and tangible
change when I'm successful."
Coyne, who is Unite's regional secretary for the West Midlands,
issued the attack against McCluskey with just days to go before
voting opens on Monday 27 March. Unite is the UK's largest trade
union with more than 1.3 million members and the organisation is a
major donor to Labour.
But, like other unions, Unite's membership has fallen over recent
years. More than 42,177 people left the organisation Between 2012 and
2015, according to the union's annual returns. Coyne wants to make
Unite"relevant for the 21st century"and introduce a new
"family membership" to boost the union's influence."We want to reach out and bring them into the family of Unite
by making sure that if their parents are already Unite members that
they get that protection the union can provide," he said.
Coyne added: "One of the realities is that since 1979 trade
union membership has been declining year-on-year. Part of my argument
is that the union has not been relevant to the world of work is today
and it's changed quite rapidly, not just in terms of the loss of
manufacturing jobs, but in the structure of the way people are
involved in work."You've seen a massive increase in zero-hours contracts,
almost one million people, there's 1.6 million people on agency
contracts and more than four million on self-employment, a lot of
those are on bogus self-employment where they are working for one
employer and it's a means of avoiding National Insurance
Contributions [from the company]."

WHEN Simon Danczuk, the MP for Rochdale's book ‘Smile for the Camera’ was
published in April 2014 it was applauded by almost every reviewer.But there was one slightly sceptical note
struck by Nicholas Blincoe who reviewed the book for the Daily Telegraph.Whilst almost everyone else seemed to accept
at face value everything that Danczuk and his aide Baker had to say about Cyril Smith’s
activities, Mr. Blincoe was more cautious in what he said: 'If it emerges that Smith, who died in 2010, raped young
boys at Knowl View, the failure to act earlier will seem unforgivable. But the
guilt will be shared. Everyone in Rochdale read the RAP story. I pored over it
as a 13-year-old. There was never any doubt over Smith’s guilt. So why did no
one do anything?' and 'Investigations into Knowl View by the police and council
have been extended to discover Smith’s role, if any, in the abuse. We will soon
know if Rochdale’s sympathy for Smith was a terrible mistake.'

‘Smith’s guilt’ here refers to the story which had appeared
in the Rochdale Alternative Paper (RAP) in 1979, about him carrying out fake
medical examinations and spanking young men at Cambridge House Hostel in the
early 1960s.The reason ‘There was never
any doubt...’ is that when the story appeared Smith huffed and puffed and
blustered, but did not sue.

In the event Blincoe’s prediction of May 2014 that ‘We will
soon know...’ proved to be wildly optimistic.It has taken not one, but three, investigations to get at the truth
about what Baker wrote and Danczuk put his name to. Essentially their credibility rests on three claims: 1) That
Smith was protected by, amongst others, the security services, and was
effectively immune from prosecution, 2) That Knowl View special school was a
‘sweetshop for paedophiles’ and Smith took full advantage of it,3) That there
was a ‘cover up’ by officers of Rochdale Council about what was happening in
the school.Now we have known since July 2015 that the first of these
claims are false. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-northamptonshire-33716982

This is what I wrote about this incident on the Northern
Voices blog in September 2015: On pages 221 and 222 of his book is a typical Danczuk story
about Smith. In recounting this story he forgot the collateral damage being
caused to the reputation of the Northamptonshire Police: 'His car had been pulled over on the motorway and officers
had found a box of child porn in his boot.The police were naturally disgusted and wanted to press charges.But then a phone call was made from London
and he was released without charge. Senior
officers had threatened the officers involved with dismissal if he was not released
immediately. The mood was tense and
sullen as officers stood back while Cyril breezily walked past them to freedom.
All the staff who knew about it were
threatened with the Official Secrets Act if they discussed the matter any
further. Once again Cyril walked out of
the police station knowing he was a protected man.'

A totally convincing story, but totally untrue.

How do we know?

Because detectives have interviewed Danczuk, two former
chief constables, about 60 police staff, a journalist who has written
extensively about Smith, and several members of the public.No
witness has been found who saw Smith in custody or was involved in his arrest,
no reports of the alleged incident have been uncovered and no witnesses have
been found from Special Branch.A manual trawl of its archives was undertaken
by Special Branch and the Crown Prosecution Service searched its archives for
relevant information.Both found nothing.

Their second claim about paedophiles at Knowl View school
was demolished in September 2016 when Operation Jaguar was closed due to the
absence of substantive evidence.This is what the Greater Manchester Police (GMP) had to say: ‘Between April 2014 and April
2015, 13 files with multiple allegations were submitted by GMP to the Crown
Prosecution Service (CPS) relating to 27 suspects and 16 victims (I think they
mean complainants), of both physical and sexual offences. In 2016 the CPS communicated their decision on
the final one of the 13 files that was still under review. No further action will be taken in relation to
this allegation.In May 2016 a further
file was submitted to the CPS and in August 2016 the CPS advised there was
insufficient evidence to support a prosecution.’Danczuk did not like this one little bit and responded with:
'I believe that there has been a catalogue of failings by GMP during the
investigation of these crimes.A failure to prosecute will leave child sexual
abuse victims devastated that the people who changed their lives forever will
not be brought to justice.This
statement from GMP announcing that they have not been able to prosecute any
more abusers will, I am sure, mean that the perpetrators of these horrific and
evil crimes will sleep more happily in their beds tonight.’

Whilst Police and Crime Commissioner Tony Lloyd did not see
fit to defend the good name and professionalism of Greater Manchester Police,
the local Police Federation chairman Inspector Ian Hanson, did saying: '(f)rom his comments
I would assume Mr Danczuk is in possession of very specific information that
backs up his comments (and) if that is the case then he should refer that
information to the IPCC (Independent Police Complaint's Commission) himself
immediately.'

In a Facebook post, Ian Hanson said a statement released by
Mr Danczuk on Thursday was 'totally lacking in detail or substance'.

As for their claim of a ‘cover up’ this is implied rather
than made explicit.But anyone reading
page 113 of their book could not be left in any doubt of what is being
suggested, especially as they refer to one council officer by name.Certainly the media took the view that the
police investigation into whether there had been a ‘cover up’ by Rochdale
Council had come about because of the book.
http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/rochdale-mp-welcomes-knowl-view-7501342

Assistant Chief Constable Ian Wiggett from GMP, said:
'Following the publication of MP Simon Danczuk's book 'Smile for the Camera’,
GMP conducted an assessment of the allegations contained within that book. As a
result of the assessment, GMP decided that a criminal investigation was
required. 'This also followed consultation with Rochdale Council and
the QC conducting the independent inquiry on their behalf. The council asked
Neil Garnham QC to suspend his independent review and he has agreed to do so. 'The GMP investigation will now seek to identify whether any
offences have been committed in the way that previous reports of abuse were
handled or allegedly covered up.'
http://www.itv.com/news/granada/story/2014-07-24/investigation-into-alleged-knowl-view-abuse-cover-up/

After more than two and a half years and at a cost of nearly
three quarters of a million pounds the Greater Manchester Police investigation
Operation Clifton concluded that there was no ‘cover up’ of what was happening
at Knowl View.In other words Danczuk
and Baker once again got it wrong.Now at this point I must declare an interest.In May 2015 I was interviewed at Rochdale
Police Station for some two hours by two officers who were part of this
operation.I handed over copies of all
the relevant documents I had amassed during my own investigation and signed
statements detailing the information I had provided verbally.At the end of the interview I was asked to
express a view as to whether I believed there had been a ‘cover up’. I said no.
So far as I was concerned I was very impressed by the thoroughness of the
investigation.

Danczuk sees things differently. He has described Operation
Clifton as a 'shambles' and he said: 'This must be the most bizarre and
unprofessional police investigation I’ve seen in my time in public office. The
police have been effectively investigating themselves. The way it has been
handled by the police warrants investigation.'

What he does not say is that the investigation was set up
examine whether there had been a ‘cover up’ by Rochdale Council and that he was
wrong to suggest that there had. This is curious because in April 2014 he had dismissed the
existing enquiry into claims of a ‘cover up’ set up by Rochdale Council in
January 2014 as a ‘bogus review’ that lacked the necessary independence.It was this enquiry which was superceded by
Operation Clifton.

He said at the time: 'It's well known that Rochdale
council are knee-deep in litigation over claims of historical physical and
sexual abuse and their so-called independent review is nothing more than a
defence of the council. 'I don't know why they're calling it an independent
review because the council commissioned it, they've set the terms of reference
and the council leader is busy calling round people connected to Knowl View
asking them to come and speak to him. 'There's nothing independent about it and I think it's
wrong that the council should be investigating serious allegations of abuse
that they had responsibility for preventing.'
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/apr/28/cyril-smith-abuse-police-alleged-rochdale-cover-up

Incidentally, the council leader in question was Colin
Lambert who went on to deliver the Labour party a stunning victory at the next
election but was then replaced by someone closer to Mr Danczuk.

Operation Clifton cost almost £750,000, Operation Jaguar
cost in the region of £500,000, the cost of the investigation by
Northamptonshire Police is unknown but we can tentatively place it in the tens
of thousands of pounds, if not more.Taken together the sum is in the region of one and a quarter million
pounds.Even though Danczuk was the
proximate factor which led to each of them, he rejects the findings of all of
them.

Allowing Danczuk to remain in a position where anyone might
be inclined to take the slightest notice of his views on Cyril Smith, Knowl
View and indeed the whole question of sexual abuse of children, is rapidly
becoming an expensive luxury the country can ill afford.But he won’t go until he is pushed and the
people to do that pushing are the members of Rochdale Labour party or, if they
still won’t do it, Rochdale’s councillors from the other parties need to kick
up a fuss and not be cowed by attacks from Danczuk’s cronies.

Rochdale will never climb out of the mire so long as it has
Danczuk as its MP. Blaming the police when they don’t come up with the findings
you think they should is lacking in judgement.Doing it three times is the action of a fool.